Reigning FIA World Rallycross champion Timmy Hansen scored his second podium finish of the 2020 season at the first of two rounds in Latvia, narrowly beating his brother Kevin Hansen to the finish line for third place in the final.
Both drivers had shown great one-lap pace around the Riga rallycross track, with Timmy setting several fastest lap times throughout the day. That speed came in handy as his third place was earned the hard way, having lost time avoiding a spinning Robin Larsson at the first chicane.
Knowing his one-lap pace was strong Timmy waited until the final lap of the race to joker, passing Niclas Grönholm as he took an early joker lap and then his brother Kevin on the final lap of the race, the two exiting the last turn almost side-by-side with Timmy prevailing.
It was an incredible effort for both cars to be in the final, as Timmy had gone off at turn two during the opening exchanges of his semi-final after contact with Krisztián Szabó. Undeterred, he foreshadowed his strategy in the final by waiting until the end of the race to take his joker, using free air to race ahead of Szabó and Reinis Nitišs for the crucial third and final spot in the final.
Kevin also showed great pace throughout the day, starting Saturday with victory in his Q1 race. Slower starts off the line in Q2 and Q3 meant he qualified sixth, one place behind Timmy, though he comfortably made it through to the final with an assured third place in his semi.
The most spectacular overtake of the day came courtesy of Kevin, who started from sixth in the final. Taking a wide line into the first corner, he dived around the outside of the chaos and went straight up to second place.
A joker lap before the half-way mark was necessary to cover off Grönholm behind, with the two then getting into an intense battle for position. Kevin picked up damage to his left-rear corner after a failed overtaking attempt and was then lucky not to be collected by Grönholm when the Finn spun off under braking while right behind Kevin, but the time lost in battle meant Kevin fell behind both Mattias Ekström and Timmy by the finish line.
Team Hansen is back on track again tomorrow for the second half of World RX’s Latvian double-header, with full points on the table once more as the field starts from scratch all over again on Sunday morning.
Kevin also showed great pace throughout the day, starting Saturday with victory in his Q1 race. Slower starts off the line in Q2 and Q3 meant he qualified sixth, one place behind Timmy, though he comfortably made it through to the final with an assured third place in his semi.
The most spectacular overtake of the day came courtesy of Kevin, who started from sixth in the final. Taking a wide line into the first corner, he dived around the outside of the chaos and went straight up to second place.
A joker lap before the half-way mark was necessary to cover off Grönholm behind, with the two then getting into an intense battle for position. Kevin picked up damage to his left-rear corner after a failed overtaking attempt and was then lucky not to be collected by Grönholm when the Finn spun off under braking while right behind Kevin, but the time lost in battle meant Kevin fell behind both Mattias Ekström and Timmy by the finish line.
Team Hansen is back on track again tomorrow for the second half of World RX’s Latvian double-header, with full points on the table once more as the field starts from scratch all over again on Sunday morning.
Quotes
“This was a day where we had to fight hard to get this podium finish, but I’m very happy to have got there in the end. There were plenty of good things which came from our testing and development and the team’s hard work before this event. The car feels better on the track, it’s a bit easier for me to drive and therefore a bit faster, with better exits. That’s been a good step forward on the track today.
“We managed to set the fastest lap time several times today, so there were big positives. The main difficulty remains launches off the start; to have better success tomorrow, we need to try and not end up at the back after turn one but be at the front to dictate the pace, instead of chasing. That’s what we’ll be focusing on this evening.
“We have some really good signs regarding our launches, so I do believe that tomorrow will be a very different day and that we can be even closer to the front. I want that victory, I don’t want to end the season without one, so tomorrow may be the day for it.”
“We got the best run in Q1 with the race win, so the pace was there. We struggled a bit in Q2 and Q3 but we’ve understood what we need to improve.
“I was really happy with my start in the final of course. I wasn’t in the mix off the line, so I went early on the brakes for an undercut at the first chicane, which worked out well to be in second place after starting sixth! But I had to make a big save on the chicane exit which meant the tyres got a little bit hot, and that made the rest of the race a bit harder.”
“I was also fighting a lot with Timmy today! I just missed out on beating him in the final as I was a bit preoccupied fighting off Grönholm, but it’s good that it was Timmy that managed to beat me to the podium and not someone else. It’s great for the team to get another podium today and I hope we can replicate that tomorrow.
“It’s also really nice to have the fans back today. It feels like we’re back to a proper sporting atmosphere when they’re at the track, so it’s great to see them here again.”
“We learned a lot from our test last week and the improvements we added in certain areas. We have a better idea of how well those things worked today. By the end of the day, our starts were working well – perhaps not so much in the morning – and around the track, we had quite good performance. We set fastest laps on a few occasions, so we’ve made good progress in that area.
“Tomorrow will be tight but we should be starting from a different baseline, as we’ve learned quite a lot today. My hope is that we can make some good starts from the beginning of the day, which will put us in a much better position than if we are third, fourth or even fifth off the line.”
“It doesn’t matter if you put in the fastest lap time in that scenario, you can’t win that race when you lose the run to the first corner. We hope to be in charge during some of the races and benefit from being in that position. If we can be on the front row for the final on Sunday, that changes everything.”
